103. A Fast Farewell to Foyle

FOYLE'S WAR. (ITV1)

They were all back last Sunday.
There was DCS Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) wearing his seriously good acting trilby; there was DS Paul Milner (Anthony Howell) wearing his seriously good acting limp; and there was every old bloke's fantasy driver, Samantha (Sam) Stewart (the wonderfully named Honeysuckle Weeks) wearing a khaki uniform better than any ATS girl ever did in my day.
I was going to write that the new series seemed to have started under a bit of a pall. That the war was apparently coming to an end and what were they going to call it then? Foyle's Peace?
But my Leader remarked on an article in the ultimate digital tv and radio guide wherein Anthony Horowitz, the creator of Foyle, interviewed by Radio Times correspondent Benji Wilson, expressed no small irritation with former ITV supremo Simon Shaps.
It seems that Mr. Shaps, presumably suffering from a rush of blood to the head, had axed Foyle's War before he left ITV for pastures new.
Oh dear, what a disappointment.
No surprise, though.
Television, like any other business, is packed with giftless gits dodging from lofty managerial height to loftier managerial height leaving a trail of bad decisions and daft mistakes behind them. It's the blueprint for modern management.
So, unless the new boss shows enough sense to recommission it, or to invite Mr.Horowitz to write a sequel, Foyle's War will come to an end tomorrow, Sunday 20th April, 2008.
Flags should be flown at half mast.
And to rub salt into the wound, Benji Wilson mooted the Foyle's Peace title ahead of me.
Oh, all right, so it didn't take a Stephen Hawking to come up with it.

NCIS. (Five)

Last night we reached episode twenty of series four and a rum old business it was.
Somehow, over the past few weeks, Agent Tim McGee (Sean Murray) has become a sort of NCIS Jessica Fletcher churning out best selling thrillers. His leading characters bear an unmistakeable likeness to his workmates, even down to the names: L. J. Tibbs? Come on...
It is clear that we are reaching the end of a 24 episode run of this hugely likeable slice of hokum. Jethro Gibbs's acting haircut is beginning to act up again, the plots are becoming progressively less believable and only our familiarity with the characters keeps us fondly glued to it.
Heck, anyone who can resist daffy Abby (Pauley Perrette) has to have something wrong with them.